Mackie Onyx Satellite Reviews

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Mackie Onyx Satellite Description
The Onyx Satellite FireWire Recording System features a sleek, portable FireWire recording pod and dedicated Base Station. The FireWire bus-powered recording pod has two premium Onyx preamps and top-notch 24-bit/96kHz capable A/D and D/A converters. The Pod easily secures into place on the Base Station for A/C power and additional I/O, turning the system into a two-input, six-output FireWire audio interface with an advanced input-patching matrix, talkback, monitoring, and surround speaker control.

The Satellite System's two inputs can be switched between mic, instrument or balanced line input sources, and its six-channel volume control provides for surround sound mixing. Its control room section provides for switching between two separate monitor outputs for multiple monitor speaker setups.

Both Mac and PC compatible, the Satellite System works with all ASIO and Core Audio compatible software. It comes bundled with a full version of Mackie's award-winning Tracktion 2 software, providing a complete out-of-the-box recording setup with professional features like a 64-bit high-definition mix engine, unlimited track count, ReWire and VST support, MIDI controller mapping, external synchronization, and integrated support for Mackie Control Universal and C4 control surfaces. Also included is a full set of Mackie's Mixing and Mastering plug-ins.

[fotofreak99]

Quality: 0
All metal, built like a tank. Even the removal pod. The only downside, if considered, is the molex connector that connects the pod to the dock has a 500 insertion lifespan.

Please keep in mind this device has 2 input channels and 2 outputs in reality. The other 4 are DAW outputs that are presented as analog outputs on the dock only.

There is no mono mode so the headphone mix can be a pain as you will hear each channel separated.

Typically nice quiet Onyx pres.

Reliability: 0
I rated this an 8 because I have computer experience. For those that are newbies with handling driver and latency problems the rating might be significantly lower.

I have only used product support to request schematics that I received promptly. There is discussion on the Mackie forums with respect to support. I would check there.

Overall Rating: 0
If you can live with the quirks it's an okay unit. I use it only with a laptop for mobile use.

The drivers need work. Hopefully Mackie will continue development. It's selling at a very good price most places, $199 or less which is good deal even if just for the Onyx preamps.